Unbroken (30 page)

“How old is she?” I ask.

“Three. She was my birthday gift for my fifteenth birthday. I got to name both her and Mac, and they’re supposed to be family pets, but the general consensus is that when I move out, I get to take at least Scout with me.”

The tiny dog’s tail wags as I play with her, and when I pull her up to my face, she wastes no time in showering me with tiny kisses. Man, dogs are the best. They love everyone, regardless of how they’ve been treated. They have the biggest hearts of any living beings.

“Well, I love her. She’s so sweet.”

She nods, a smile on her face as she watches me interact with her dog. “So how’s Nickayla doing?”

I sigh. “As well as can be expected. She’s sleeping now. She didn’t tell me what happened, but I think we can safely say she and Colin are broken up. Whether it’s for good or just temporary, I don’t know, but she’s really fucked up over this.” I lean over, pressing a kiss to her lips. “Thank you for texting me. I would never be able to forgive myself if I let her down again.”

Sabrina shrugs like this is no big deal, but she has no idea how badly I felt when I wasn’t there for her last year. Everything that happened last year shaped our friendship, because it sealed the deal for me that I don’t want any secrets between the two of us.

What’s worse is that I had originally planned to tell Nickayla about my dad and the secret I’ve been keeping from her right along with her mother. But given the circumstances of what’s happened, I don’t think it’s a good time for either of us to bring up secrets.

“I’m sure she knows you’d never let her down on purpose, babe. But I know how much you love to help people. Plus she barely knows me. I figured it’d be beneficial for her to be around a familiar face in her time of need.”

I nod.

“Did you get any of the pizza?” I ask.

“Nah. I wanted to make sure she ate first.”

“Well, there’s half a pizza still left. Why don’t we warm it up and watch a movie?”

She raises her eyebrows like she’s not sure how to answer my question. She doesn’t answer, in fact. I think she’s thinking this is a trap or something. Perhaps she thinks I’m going to force her to watch a horror movie. But now, I have other plans.

Of course, I’m going to spend the night here with Nickayla, but I want to spend the rest of the evening with Sabrina, to make up for the fact we’re going to miss each other tonight.

“Nonna has
When Harry Met Sally
,” I offer.

Ever since she told me what her favorite movie was, I’ve been looking forward to the day I could watch it with her. Mom was always a stickler for the classic movies, but I never got a chance to watch any of them with her because I was too young for the stuff she liked to watch.

“Seriously?” she squeals. “You should have started with that! Let’s go!”

I laugh, reveling in her excitement. She’s so cute when she’s all enthusiastic like this. I lead her to the living room and deposit her on the couch while I put the pizza in the oven to warm back up.

Once it’s warm, I take it into the living room along with a bottle of pineapple Crush—her favorite soda—and set it on the table. I press play on the movie and serve us both some pizza. She ducks beneath my arm, eating her pizza in my embrace.

I learned recently that one of my favorite things about her is the way she craves my touch. We don’t have to be kissing or making love or even doing anything remotely sexual, but she likes to have me touching her. She likes my arms around her, her head resting on my chest. It’s a level of intimacy I never really cared about with anyone else, but I care about it with her.

If it’s my touch that she craves, that’s what she’s going to get.

“You make me happy, Sabrina,” I say, turning to look at her head on. “You make me happier than I ever could have dreamed of being. And I know what you want and I promise I’m going to give it to you someday soon. Because you deserve it.”

She smiles, and I watch her entire gaze light up.

“What?” I ask.

“You see? That is just like you, Harry. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you,” she whispers.

I cock an eyebrow at her quizically. Did she just call me
Harry
?

“Um, thanks?”

She keels over, laughing uncontrollably. I watch her for a long, uncomfortable moment, and I shake my head at her hysterics. I swear, this girl is a puzzle, and I’m not sure I’ll ever solve it. Once she stops laughing, she grins widely at me.

“I got you,” she says. I raise both my eyebrows again and she giggles. “
When Harry Met Sally.
”

Damn, she’s good.

TWENTY FOUR

TODAY IS MY SENIOR PROM.

My dress is a deep royal purple, about the same length as the dress Brody made love to me in for the first time. It’s almost the same style, except this time, my back is completely exposed. My hair is slick straight, parted in the center. I don’t have much makeup on, and I’m wearing silver strappy heels.

I’m not as dolled up or over the top as most girls are the night of their senior prom, but when I descend the stairs and see Brody in the foyer, my heart stops. He does a double take, and everything in his demeanor changes. His eyes are alight as I approach him, his smile spreads wide across his face, and he starts messing with his cuff links, the collar of his shirt, and checking his hair in the mirror in the last five seconds before I’m directly in front of him.

In this moment, I’ve never felt more beautiful.

“Jesus, Sabrina,” he whispers, taking my hand. He pulls me in for a temple kiss and he lowers his voice once more. “You’re playing with fire wearing that dress.”

I grin, wrapping my arms around his neck before we have to turn to face my parents for pictures. “I can’t wait until you take it off me.”

He pulls away from my embrace, and he walks up one step. I stand directly in front of him, and his arms come to wrap around me from behind.

Mom is gushing over us, and the look in her eye tells me how much she approves of Brody. She starts snapping pictures right away, and she furiously wipes tears from her eyes after each flash. Daddy enters the room after Mom does, and he smiles genuinely. I take that as a sign that he’s over being upset that I went to Big Bear with Brody.

“
Te ves muy hermosa, mija
,” Daddy says, stepping into the lines of Mom’s photography session and hugging me. “
El gringo tenia mejor cuidar de ti. No voy a ver que te hagan dano como la ultima vez.
” He kisses my cheek. “
Te amo, mija. Disfrutar, pero no demasiado.
”

I laugh, knowing precisely what he’s insinuating. I make a mental note to translate for Brody once we’re alone again. He’s been having Grace coach him in Spanish precisely for times like this, when Daddy tries to ice him out. Mom has had fourteen years to get acquainted with our second language, so she knows almost everything by now. But Brody’s still out of the loop.

“Thanks, Daddy,” I say in English, although I am slightly amused by the confused expression on Brody’s face. “I love you, too.”

Brody steps down and places a corsage on my wrist. Taking my hand, he leads me outside. Waiting for us is the Denali, instead of a limousine. I cock an eyebrow at him and he shrugs.

“I wasn’t going to have you spend your only prom with my ex-girlfriend in the limo with us,” he says. “Plus, I figured you could drive. Last time…”

When his voice trails off, I nod. Last time, life got in the way. More specifically, his dad got in the way. But today, he’s making it all about me, and I love it.

“You are the best boyfriend ever!” I exclaim, snatching the keys from where they dangle on his index finger. As gracefully as I can, I sprint out of the house and climb into the driver’s seat of the car. Once Brody is in beside me, I lean over and kiss him. Before I put the car in drive, he reaches into the glove department and pulls out a small chest. He grabs my hand and holds it palm up before placing the chest in my hand. I open it, then grin up at him. “Dove chocolate?”

He nods, smiling sheepishly as he shrugs. “I saw it in the store the other day and it made me think of you.”

That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t care about being spoiled rotten or being taken on fancy dates. He does all the little things for me that other people tend to overlook, and that means the world to me.

“This is so cheesy, babe.” Planting a quick kiss on his cheek, I smile and pluck a piece of chocolate from the chest. I unwrap it and pop it in my mouth. “Lucky for you, I like cheesy. And I
love
chocolate.”

…

I’m in love with this boy. As I dance with him, I completely forget that there are other people in the room. Right now, it’s just him and it’s just me and the rest of the world has disappeared. His arms clasp around my waist and connect at the small of my back. I rest my head in the space between his shoulders and sigh with contentment.

Today has shown me his heart. The thing I keep in my mind always is the day he told me what was on his heart and his mind. It was the most honest he’d ever been with me, and ever since both of our secrets were let out in the open, we’ve been better than ever.

Nickayla and Colin showed up shortly after we did. She looks stunning as always, waltzing around the room with the man she loves on her arm.

Me, I can’t take my eyes off Brody. About twenty minutes ago, he left me to dance with Nickayla while I danced with Colin. Brody and Nic looked to be having a very important discussion, and I couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about. When he came back to me, he wrapped me up in his arms like he was afraid I was going to run for the hills. We haven’t spoken, but there’s a wedge between us. I feel it.

There’s a giant elephant in the room and I’ve named him Draco, and he’s being an asshole because he won’t let Brody and I enjoy our night together.

“What did your dad say in Spanish earlier?”

I knew that was coming, but I know that’s far from whatever’s on his mind right now. From the look on his face, he couldn’t care less what my dad had to say to me. He’s just trying to distract me from the real issue at hand.

“He said I looked beautiful. And that the
gringo
had better take care of me, because he doesn’t want to see me hurt again. Then he told me he loved me, and to enjoy myself but not too much.” I grin, guiding his face in my direction, wanting him to focus on what I’m about to say. “Little does he know, you’re not going to have
any
fun tonight if you don’t tell me what’s going through that pretty head of yours.”

I may not know much about Brody, but I know when something’s wrong with him. I know when he’s holding a battle within himself, and I want to make sure I’m not the reason for the conflicting emotions behind his eyes. After all we’ve been through in the short amount of time we’ve been together, whatever is wrong should be a piece of cake. His father was the worst of it, I’m sure.

“I broke up with Michele at prom last year,” Brody says, tipping my chin up and holding it in place so I’ve no choice but to look directly into those gray-blue eyes of his.

That’s not exactly what I was expecting to hear. Hearing her name come from his mouth has me automatically scanning the room for her. Within seconds, I find her. She’s standing by the punch bowl, laughing with some guy, and she looks phenomenal.

I know I have no right to be…jealous of her history with Brody. But she’s beautiful. She’s petite and skinny and funny and she got the two years with him that should have been mine, while I wasted time with Maddox Bradley. The time she had with him is time that was stolen from me, and although I know she had no way of knowing that, I still feel resentful of the fact that she got to have him to herself while all I could do was dream of him.

I force myself to look away from Michele long enough to pin Brody with a lethal expression.

“Oh?” I reply, trying to sound unaffected. “You looking to have history repeat itself tonight? Because if you are, I promise you won’t live to tell the tale to the next girl you bring to prom.”

He shakes his head, a throaty chuckle escaping his lips. He spins me around, holding one of my hands above my head. When I’m directly in front of him again, he places his hands on either side of my hips and literally holds me at arm’s length this time. He gazes down at me, a small smile on his face.